Join us in Facilitating Justice for Traumatised Women Seeking Asylum

Facilitating Justice for Traumatised Women Seeking Asylum

13 September 2012

11am-4pm

London

One of the unexpected outcomes of the dissemination project has been the realisation that, although we don't know how many, a number of women seeking asylum who have experienced sexual violence, seem not to be getting the specialist support that they need. Throughout the project I've tried to bring refugee-supporting and sexual violence survivor organisations together to share their expertise in the hope that we can start to bridge this gap.

Facilitating Justice will feature presentations and case studies from Vicky Canning, Liverpool John Moores University; Eileen Walsh, Traumatic Stress Clinic; Nina Murray, Scottish Refugee Council; Anna Musgrave, Refugee Council; Southall Black Sisters; facilitated workshops to explore ideas for ways to bridge the gaps in services; and a networking session. 

After the event, I'll be following up the ideas we've explored together - with the aim of bringing new projects to life. 

This event has been designed to develop practical solutions. Its success depends on your participation, your expertise and enthusiasm. The event is supported by Comic Relief, and thnks to the Feminist Review Trust, we have funding to support women from refugee women’s self-advocacy groups to participate too.

Who should take part?

• Managers and practitioners in organisations supporting women seeking asylum
• Managers and practitioners in organisations supporting survivors of sexual violence (e.g. Rape Crisis centres)
• Funders developing the capacity of these organisations to work with women seeking asylum who have experienced sexual violence

Places are free, but limited. To apply for a place, please contact me for a booking form: c.cochrane@csel.org.uk


Deadline for applications is Monday 23 July 2012.

CSEL trustee writes in Fahamu newsletter

Read David Rhys Jones' article on the Court of Appeal's recent ruling on the meaning of ‘independent evidence of torture’ and the correct approach to medical reports in asylum appeals here.

CSEL moves office

We have moved our office base to

The Merchant Centre
1 New Street Square
London EC4A 3BF

020 7842 8532

It's a stone's throw from Chancery Lane - taking psychology research to the heart of the law!

COMING SOON! Major review of autobiographical memory and emotion, emotional disorders, culture and deception. Now 'in press' with Applied Cognitive Psychology.

CSEL in Fahamu Refugee Legal Aid Newsletter

The May edition of the Fahamu Refugee Legal Aid Newsletter has just been published, and features an article by Clare Cochrane and Jane Herlihy on how understanding psychology canhelp make asylum decisions fairer. The article is an introduction not only to CSEL’s key research in this area, but also to psycho-legal issues more generally, and while CSEL’s work addresses the UK asylum system, the article raises wider issues that apply to asylum and sanctuary-seeking anywhere. 

The Fahamu Refugee Legal Aid Network is part of Fahamu, an organisation that supports social justice networks across Africa and internationally. The newsletter is read by legal practitioners and others working on refugee and asylum issues around the world, with a particular focus on sharing knowledge and experience among practitioners who don’t have easy access to academic institutions or professional networks.

Credibility, science and spreading the word in Manchester

These are challenging times for women seeking asylum in the UK, and for those working to support them. Funding cuts mean that services are being reduced, access to legal support is ever harder to achieve, and public opinion is not softening – in fact it sometimes seems attitudes are hardening. But at the same time, there is increasing concern for the different experiences and particular needs of traumatised women seeking asylum, and I was invited by the Red Cross to give a workshop at their March conference in Manchester on Women and Asylum.

The conference aimed to share knowledge and good practice around understanding the needs and supporting the rights of women who make asylum applications in the UK. About 30% of asylum claims in the UK are made by women. As Nick Scott Flynn, head of refugee services at the Red Cross, pointed out, women often have different experiences of persecution from men – because both the reasons and the form of the persecution they suffer is gender-based, and because women’s social roles may mean that they have non-typical profiles of political activity, for example. These issues have to be taken into account in order to offer women protection appropriately and in appropriate forms.

In the morning, we heard presentations from Tony McNulty MP; Nick Scott Flynn; Ian Macdonald, a team leader for the UK Border Agency; and Debora Singer, head of policy at Asylum Aid. Nick Scott Flynn gave a great overview of why we need to focus on women seeking asylum, and Debora Singer brilliantly and engagingly summarised the key issues that Asylum Aid has been raising for years about the need to respect the rights of women seeking asylum, and the way that a systematic failure to recognise these rights leads to human rights abuses against vulnerable women. The speaker from the UKBA gave a general overview of the role of the UKBA and spoke about anti-trafficking work.

The afternoon saw seminars on surviving destitution (the Refugee Council and Women Asylum Seekers Together); the journey of an asylum claim (Greater Manchester Immigration Aid Unit); and rehabilitation after surviving torture (Freedom from Torture); and credibility and seeking asylum (CSEL). Sadly for me, the price of giving a workshop was missing out on the others.

However, my seminars were very popular, and so lively that I can’t complain. I used the time to host a discussion about why it’s important to be able to refer to credible, scientific research findings when supporting women seeking asylum, and how you can make use of findings in different support roles, with reference to CSEL’s research where appropriate. I found that 45 minutes isn’t long when you have a room full of lively professionals and volunteers keen to share their experiences and explore ways to use new information to improve the quality of the service they provide for women seeking asylum.

The conference report is now being written, and will include evaluation of the workshops, but if the vitality of group discussions are anything to go by, I can definitely say that CSEL’s research captured the interest of the conference delegates. Many thanks to Rachel Keene, Antonia Dunn and all the Red Cross volunteers for pulling together this exciting regional event.

CSEL in The Times

See the media page for an article about our work with testimony at the Khmer Rouge trials.